The archives of the articles, reviews, interviews and other ramblings written by Sarah E. Jahier (aka Fatally Yours).

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Stuck (2008)

When I first sat down to watch Stuck, I must admit I was skeptical of the film. Surely director Stuart Gordon is a master of horror, having filmed such films like Reanimator, Castle Freak and Edmond,
but a film that features a guy stuck in a windshield for most of its
running time sounded rather dull to me, though the true story that the
film is based on is downright chilling. Just see the Wikipedia entry on
it below:

Chante Jawan Mallard is an African American woman from
Texas who was convicted and sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment for her
role in the death of a 37 year old homeless man, Gregory Biggs.

The incident occurred on October 26, 2001 when Mallard’s car struck
him; at the time Mallard was believed to have been driving while
intoxicated by drugs and alcohol. The force of the impact sent Biggs
flying through the windshield, lodging him there.

Mallard then drove home, leaving the injured Biggs stuck in her
windshield, and parked her car in her garage. She then went inside, had
sex with her boyfriend, and over the next day or so checked on the man
still stuck in her windshield. After the accident Mallard did not notify
the police or get Biggs any medical attention.

The film follows the true story pretty accurately with the exception
of characters changed and a very different conclusion to the true life
tale. Brandi (Mena Suvari) works in a nursing home and is on the verge
of a major promotion. She goes out that night to celebrate with her
drug-dealing boyfriend and best friend, but parties a little too hard
and while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, hits
down-on-his-luck Thomas Bardo (Stephen Rea), who is crossing the street.
Bardo crashes through her windshield and remains lodged there. Panicked, Brandi heads home and leaves the bloodied Bardo stuck in her
windshield for the night…Though she promises to get help, Brandi tries
to figure out a way to get rid of Bardo while Bardo tries to escape.

Stuart Gordon is back to fine form with the exquisitely gripping Stuck.
It is a suspenseful and horrifying film that is unrelenting from its
first few scenes to its explosive finale. I didn’t have high
expectations of this film going in, but it thoroughly impressed me with
its conflicted, well-developed characters, stellar acting and fast
pacing.

First off, the characters are very well rounded out and presented as
extremely sympathetic. First, you have Thomas Bardo who is currently
unemployed and has been kicked out of the skeevy hotel he was staying
at. At an employment office he waits for hours for an appointment before
being told he isn’t in the computer so they can’t help him. With no
place to go and no money, he tries to sleep on a park bench but he is
kicked out by a police officer. As if his day couldn’t get any worse, he
is then hit by Brandi and sails through her windshield. While Brandi is
set up to be the villain in this film, we can’t help but feel for her
too. She is genuinely sweet to her patients at the nursing home and
really cares for them. When she hits Bardo she has the very human
reaction of covering up her mistake instead of ‘fessing up to it. We
also feel bad for her when she is reprimanded by her slimy superior.
When Brandi and Bardo go head-to-head, you really are at a loss as to
who to root for, because both are sympathetic characters. Of course,
Bardo wins our sympathies in the end because Brandi is basically just
letting him die.

As for the acting, that is the absolute highlight of the film. I’m
not a big Mena Suvari fan and I wasn’t diggin’ the whole
ghetto-fabulous-wannabe/corn-row look, but she played the character of
Brandi just right, with the perfect balance of sweetness and venom,
cluelessness and resolve. The actor that really stole the show, though,
was Stephen Rea as Thomas Bardo. Without him, I don’t think the film
would have been as effective. He absolutely captures the forlorn
desperation of Bardo and makes it easy to root for him.

While I thought this film’s storyline would be its weakest point, it
actually impressed me. Gordon paces the film so that it’s packed with
suspense and there isn’t a second to be bored. There’s always that
tug-of-war between Brandi and Bardo that keeps things tense, but other
characters added to the mix, like Brandi’s boyfriend Rashid (Russell
Hornsby) and her friend Tanya (Rukiya Bernard), really give the movie
additional depth and complexity. There is also plenty of black humor
that will have you chuckling throughout the horrifying ordeal.

And horrifying it is…the fact that the story is rooted in reality
adds to the ugly truth of human nature and shows us just how nasty we
can get when it comes to our own preservation. Not only that, but there
are several cringe-worthy scenes, including the car crash in slow
motion, which shows Bardo’s leg snapping against the grill and him going
through the windshield, many of which are drenched in blood. Though the
film probably won’t satisfy gorehounds out for a cheap thrill, the gore
portrayed is very realistic and works extremely well for the film.

Stuck is an unrelenting and thrilling cinematic
horrorshow that shows us just how low people are willing to go to save
their own skin and that your bad day can always get worse…